late night shift
by dellychan
Summary: this contains BL boy love . please don't read if you don't like o///o ---l and light work a late night on the kira investigation, and light starts to realize his feelings for the detective, who really doesn't understand what's going on XD


It was now eleven thirty-six p.m., and Light was beginning to doze off, a pen in one hand and his head resting in the other. He blinked himself awake and rubbed his eyes drowsily, yawning.

"Light-kun, you can go to sleep any time you want, you know," the detective stated, licking a lollipop as he stared at multiple computer screens.

Light threw on his nice-guy act and cracked a smile. "I know that, Ryuzaki. We're almost done for the night, though, I may as well finish what I started."

Expressionless, L nodded. "Whatever you like. Have you found anything of interest yet?"

"Well, actually," he began, twirling the pen in his fingers, "there is one thing... As we were studying the Death Note, one of the rules states that you can't tear out a page of the notebook. But you found a corner ripped out of one of the pages, didn't you Ryuzaki? And you were considering one of the rules to be a fake. Maybe, instead of the 'Thirteen-Day' rule..." Light suggested mildly. He'd had this in his mind for a while now, just as a back-up idea to keep Ryuzaki stumped for a while. It wouldn't last long, but it was better than nothing.

L contemplated for a moment, the gears in his mind working faster as the night grew older. "No, I don't think so. It doesn't fit. Good work, though, I will keep that in mind for further investigation, Light-kun."

"Ryuzaki. I can't be _that_ much younger than you; you don't have to keep calling me 'Light-_kun_'," Raito said, feigning annoyance. It honestly didn't bother him, but sometimes it just got awkward with nobody talking... It was simple to make small talk.

The detective jiggled the mouse of one of the computers and shifted his gaze to Light, the lollipop hanging from his mouth. "Do you wish for me to call you something else?"

"That's not what I meant... Though, you could just call me Light."

"Are we really on first name terms... Light?" L asked slowly, turning his attention back to his work.

Light lifted up his right wrist and shook the chain, making a jingling noise. The corner of L's mouth turned up. "We _are_ handcuffed together, Ryuzaki, it really doesn't get any closer than this. But I'm not expecting you to go around telling the whole team your real name, if that's what you're worried about."

It was silent for a few seconds, as L scooped a spoonful of what seemed to be pure melted sugar into his mouth.

"Even if you were expecting that, I'd use an alias, of course."

"Sometimes I wonder if you even remember your true name yourself, what with all the identities you have lying around," Light tried to joke. As usual, it provoked no reaction from the detective.

The silence, this time, hung in the air for a while. Light cleared his throat strangely and went back to checking his email, skipping over all the ones from Misa. Having her working on her computer and killing criminals all day proved to be excellent, but being away from Light wasn't such a great idea.

"It's like riding a bike," L said quietly.

Light turned. "What?"

"You can't forget. One could never forget who they really are. The same is true for riding a bike. You just don't forget, it's one of those permanent things."

"Do you even know how to ride a bike, Ryuzaki?" Light joked again after a moment of silence, smiling.

This time L smirked around his thumb. "Of course I do."

Light sighed, the ghost of a smile planted on his lips. He glanced over at his superior, curiosity apparent in his almost-golden eyes. He wanted to understand the detective's mind, how he thought, how he _worked_, he wanted to know all about him. Clearly, that was impossible for anyone, but Light still yearned. The man was one complete secret, a thinking, breathing, stooped-over mystery, and Light wanted to solve his case.

Curiosity maybe stepping a mere inch out of bounds, Light's hand reached over and placed itself on top of L's.

L shifted his cautious eyes to Light, crooking an eyebrow, surprised. "Light?"

"L... you're the world's greatest detective. No... you're the world's top _three _greatest detectives," Light mumbled. "How do you do it? You're only one person; how can one person be so amazing?"

A bit uncomfortable, L shifted in his chair. "Where is this coming from, Light-kun?"

He didn't answer right away, and instead leaned closer. "I'm not sure. I guess I just wonder a lot. About how you came to be so great. Nobody knows anything about your past life, and hardly anything about the present you. The truth is... I want to know more."

"More? Like what?" A two-minute-timed screensaver came up on one of L's computers, a calligraphic, metallic "L" in the middle of a blank, white background.

"Who are you, Ryuzaki?" Light asked, not missing a beat.

L looked away without answering, his pale face as expressionless as always.

Light tugged bravely on the chain that ran from his own wrist to Ryuzaki's, in turn pulling L's chair across the open distance between the two. Slowly, their lips met, and L gasped softly, not sure what to do in a situation like that. He sifted through all the things he had been through in his life, for some kind of a reaction—anything.

But came up empty-handed.

Acting on an impulse, L reached up and touched Light's cheek gently, keeping his eyes open wide the entire time. This what they did on TV, wasn't it?

… Right?

"L-Lawliet..." L stuttered brokenly.

Light smiled against L. "Lawliet," he said thoughtfully, pondering his next move. In an instant, his last obstruction could be gone, with a simple flick of the wrist, some messy handwriting. No. If he did that, L's name deserved nice handwriting. He deserved an entire page to himself, something like that.

Quietly, L planted his hands on the armrests of Light's chair, and shyly touched his lips to his cheek. He had gotten that one from the TV, too.

The TV references made Light's heart sputter, and he closed his eyes benignly, wishing more than ever that he understood L's brain. And wishing he understood his own.

Kira or Light?

Murder or Love?

Wasting a breath, he muttered the name once more, the name that tasted like candy as much as the person to whom it belonged, the name that was sweet in any language, the name that could solve an case put in front of him.

"Lawliet."


End file.
